Taiwan has dropped a harsh rating for Ghost of Yōtei, but the reason may not be what you expect.
Twitter user Renka_schedule shared a photo of the rating from Taiwan’s game rating website for the PlayStation 5. Ghost of Yōtei received an R rating, the highest and equivalent to the ESRB’s AO or Adults Only rating. In both cases, only players aged 18 years old and above are allowed to buy and play the game.
The Taiwan Entertainment Software Rating Information (TESRI) rating system is used not only in Taiwan, but also in the city of Hong Kong, and also in various South East Asian countries, particularly where there are sufficient Chinese language speakers. Much like the ESRB, it uses descriptors to explain the ratings it gives to certain games.
In this case, the rating descriptors mention violence, tobacco and alcohol, and inappropriate language. While the mentions of tobacco and alcohol may seem inoffensive to most gamers, it really only stands to reason that other countries and regions still apply their cultural standards, including their mores and customs, for ratings in their region.
Ghost of Yōtei was announced in September 2024, and Sucker Punch confirmed that they were releasing the game this year as recently as last month. While a game rating does not mean that the game will be ready to release tomorrow, it usually indicates that a project is in the final stages of development.
In most cases, video game rating agencies or associations in different countries and regions around the world won’t be able to give a rating to a game unless it was in a sufficiently finished state that these groups will be able to play through it, and see all the intended content. There have been situations where the game took a little longer to finish, and they get resubmitted for a rating once again, but of course these do not represent the norm.
PlayStation has a lot of games coming to the PlayStation 5, but they don’t have a lot of first party releases this year. We have now confirmed Marathon’s 2025 release date alongside Ghost of Yōtei, but we have yet to confirm any other games to be revealed or released this year. We reported the rumor that Fairgame$ was internally delayed to 2026, but it must be said we couldn’t trace where anyone said that it was releasing in 2025, either officially or as a rumor. Notably, Housemarque’s Saros, which was revealed earlier this year, was announced for 2026. It certainly seems that Marathon and Ghost of Yōtei are all that’s ready from Sony’s 21 internal studios for this year.
With all this in mind, it’s doubtful that Sucker Punch will take any more delays in finishing Ghost of Yōtei, and there’s no reason to believe they would need to. We’re certainly looking forward to the game’s launch.
